BEST SCENE SCREENPLAY READINGS
The "best scene" take from features and TV pilots of winning screenplays.
-
DRAMA Festival Best Scene: HOUSTON, by Marcus Herzberg
Civil rights attorney Charles Houston fights racist juries, corrupt officials, and hostile coworkers as he leads the battle to kill Jim Crow.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Elizabeth Rose Morriss
Young Charles: Shawn Devlin
Thomas: Steve Rizzo -
FEMALE Festival Best Sceen: ROCK BOTTOM, by Kevin Barney
Summary: On the run from a job, Steph finds herself in danger and a target. She falls and lands under a Boulder which traps her for 2 days. While trying to survive as long as she can for help to arrive, she reaches an unpleasant realization.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Julie Sheppard
Steph: Hannah Eh... -
FEMALE Festival Best Scene: MR. HOLLYWOOD, by Karen Powell-Riggs
Summary: Molly wants to make it in Hollywood but cannot do so as a woman, she dresses up as a man and pretends to get a deal with an agent. This leads to ultimate success but still leaves her with one problem, she is a woman pretending to be a man.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Elizabeth Rose Morriss
B... -
ACTION Festival Best Scene: THE SHADOW KILLER, by Thad Alexander (interview)
In the heart of Bangkok, Detective Aran Chen, a defiant inspector haunted by his past, pursues the elusive "Shadow Killer," a ruthless serial murderer. Armed with his sharp instincts and lethal martial arts skills, Aran battles through the city's underworld, uncovering a chilling link between the...
-
ACTION Festival Best Scene: THE ULTIMATE QUESTION, by Steven C. Shaffer
When a young boy is found on a battlefield, it sets into motion a series of events that will have potentially catastrophic results unless that young boy - now a young man - can solve the puzzle that his mentor left him before he died.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Steve Rizzo
Cyrten: Elizabeth Rose Mo... -
Reading: JOSH'S EMPLOYMENT AGENCY OF BROOKLYN, by Nancy Lydia Kimmel (interview)
In the dilapidated streets of Brooklyn, Josh runs a failing employment agency that’s haunted by three ghosts. Josh is reluctantly recruited by them to help solve a series of murders. Of Course, Death's AKA-Al curiosity is piqued and decides he's in too.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Hannah Ehman
Mary: ... -
New York Festival Scene: The Movie Bro versus The Tormenter, by Joshua G. Eton
A young man named Joshua who develops a crush on a new but confused girl named Pam, must learn to become a true warrior in order to save her from the clutches of an evil and monstrous tormentor who she claims was once her insane and looked - upon father.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Elizabeth Rose Mor...
-
New York Feedback Festival Best Scene: DREME, by Ashok Reddy
Steven, a disillusioned neurologist, has quit his research position to practice as a clinician in the wake of his mother’s death several years earlier. He now grows alarmed when his wife, Diane, exhibits symptoms of, and is ultimately diagnosed with, a mysterious neurological condition called Sch...
-
FEMALE Festival Best Scene: WHAT'S A ZAYDE?, by Andy Epstein (interview)
Logline: A young woman struggles with maintaining her relationship with her grandfather as she prepares to go to college.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Julie Sheppard
Becky: Val Cole
Lucille: Hannah EhmanGet to know the writer:
1. What is your screenplay about?
It's about an elderly man's loving r...
-
FEMALE Festival Best Scene Reading: THE UNRAVELLING, by Susan Kelejian
"The Unravelling" follows Beth Carter, a young American woman who inherits a lighthouse on the remote Irish island of Inishenbarr. As she settles into island life, Beth begins experiencing visions of the past, specifically of her ancestors Brigid and Llewellyn, star-crossed lovers whose story end...
-
FEMALE Festival Best Scene: THE EIGHT DATES OF HANUKKAH, by Laurel Gans
A top efficiency expert is forced to prove her new dating program works by going on all eight dates herself.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Elizabeth Rose Morriss
Natalie: Julie Sheppard
Wallace: Shawn Devlin
Sam: Steve Rizzo -
FANTASY/SCI-FI Best Scene:RACE WARS: A EUGENICS EXPERIMENT, by Eric Faulkner
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Val Cole
Caucasoid: Geoff Mays
Negroid: Shawn Devlin -
FANTASY/SCI-FI Festival Best Scene Reading: NEANDERLAND, by Muli Glasberg
In a venture into an uncharted human civilization on Earth that evolved without sunlight, a checkered doctor must bridge - with a resilient local leader - science and ancient tradition to find a cure to a deadly disease, navigating together hostile landscapes, corporate grid, personal demons.
CA...
-
FANASY/SCI-FI Fest Best Scene: THE RED ZONE, by Terry Luke Podner (interview)
Summary: An American footballer has the greatest super human strength and is undefeated on the field. What make him stand out even more is that he had a terrible car accident which could have killed him but surprisingly he survived and is now a force putting his underdog team back on the map. How...
-
FANTASY Festival Best Scene: Alaric The Rising Knight, by Sammy Vogel-Seidenberg
In a realm where the balance of power is governed by the elements—Earth, Fire, Water, and Desert—the theft of the Elementarium by the ruthless Kael threatens to plunge the world into chaos. The Council of Elders, desperate to restore order, turns to Alaric, a young but gifted Earth Knight, to uni...
-
HORROR Best Scene Reading: Echoes From The Veil. by Nicole Sell (interview)
Newly widowed father, Daniel Lambert, grapples with his skepticism of the supernatural as he moves into a charming old house with his four children, seeking a fresh start after the untimely passing of his wife. The family struggles to adapt to their new life, each of them finding their own way to...
-
BEST Scene Reading: THE SUSURRUS, by Krista Amigone (interview)
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Steve Rizzo
Lydia: Julie Sheppard
Charmilla: Elizabeth Rose Morriss
Jilly: Hannah EhmanGet to know the writer:
1. What is your screenplay about?
The Susurrus is about a dollmaker who starts to date a year after her husband abandoned her. The jump back into the dating ...
-
BEST Scene Reading: MORE GOING DOWN, by Dennis J. Manning (interview)
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Julie Sheppard
Jake: Geoff Mays
Bartender: Shawn Devlin
Robin: Steve RizzoGet to know the writer:
1. What is your screenplay about?
More Going Down is a neo-noir crime thriller set in Miami's underworld, where power, seduction, and betrayal collide. It follows Jake, a m... -
Best Scene Reading: MARILOU & MARILYN, by Melanie Klug
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Shawn Devlin
Jane: Julie Sheppard
Policeman #1/Archie: Steve Rizzo
Marilou: Elizabeth Rose Morriss -
BEST Scene Reading: Dirty Kid, by Klemesheva Olga
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Steve Rizzo
Molly: Elizabeth Rose Morriss
Walter: Shawn Devlin -
FEMALE Festival Best Scene: Hong Kong, by Tim Morell (interview)
Caught between a suffocating marriage and a passionate affair, Anne Delbridge fights to find her own freedom, independence, and voiceamidst the turmoil surrounding the pro-democracy student uprising in Tiananmen Square, China.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Elizabeth Rose Morriss
Anne: Hannah Ehman
Ric... -
BEST Scene Reading: Past Transgressions, by Faith Wilson
Two African brothers with a strained relationship accidentally get sent back in time to the era of slavery. In their efforts to return to the present, they inadvertently alter history. Upon their return, they discover that African Americans are now the majority, and white people are the minority....
-
HEIST COUNTER HEIST, by Helen Rana. Best Scene CRIME/MYSTERY Festival
London, 1979. Reeling from the fallout of her father’s suicide, observant teen Jenny devises a foolproof theft, based on insights gleaned from waitressing in a gangsters’ social club. Her plucky two best friends join in - but their plan to pull a counter heist goes badly awry.
CAST LIST:
Narra...
-
STAGE PLAY Best Scene Reading: THE SPECIALS, by Kimberly Lawton (interview)
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Julie Sheppard
Louis: Steve Rizzo
Laura: Hannah EhmanGet to know the writer:
1. What is your screenplay about?
Ultimately it's about loneliness and how if can look different through grief or mental illness. Some people struggle with it and seem to function well (car...